Dusk Avenger (Flirting with Monsters #3) - Eva Chase Page 0,81

burning was at least as much your fault as mine, demon dog. Not that I’m complaining. I don’t think I’d consider what we just did a catastrophe. The world hasn’t ended yet, has it?”

Omen’s shoulders relaxed incrementally. “No, not yet,” he said, and there was definitely a droll note in his voice now.

“I didn’t intend for us to end up like this, you know.”

“I know. If you had, it wouldn’t have happened.” He exhaled with a rough sound that pinched at my gut.

“Then I hope we can move forward without any regrets,” I said.

“We’ll see how I feel about it when you’re attempting to yank my chain again.” He gave me a sharp look. “Even if you kept up with my fire after all, that doesn’t mean you’re getting out of the rest of your training.”

My heart swelled with relief and perhaps even affection. I bobbed up to steal a quick kiss before he decided to set himself off limits again. “Well, I think the one who can recreate his outfit in the shadows and move between rooms unseen should grab me some new clothes from the other bedroom. Then you can train away.”

“I’m going to hold you to that, Disaster,” he said with what might have been a smirk before he vanished into the darkness.

22

Sorsha

The one thing we did occasionally have to stop for was gas. Around noon, Ruse pulled into a station that had a pizza place next door. While he cajoled free gas out of the station staff, I grabbed my wallet to head over to the pizza place, figuring it wouldn’t be a horrible thing to actually pay for what we were going to consume now and then.

“Bleeding heart,” Omen said lightly as he stepped out into the midday sun behind me.

“Talk like that, and I’ll order pineapple across the whole thing,” I replied, anticipating his grimace. One definitive thing I had learned on our road trip so far: the hellhound shifter didn’t approve of citrus on his cheesy pies, the poor soul.

“Heavy on the pepperoni, and maybe I’ll forgive you anyway. Just—”

“Make it snappy—I know, I know.”

The guy at the counter told me it’d be a fifteen-minute wait for the three pizzas I ordered—only one sprinkled with the pride of Hawaii, since I was feeling kindly—so I stepped out of the humid seating area to bask in the warm early fall breeze and the greasy scents wafting from the kitchen vent.

Apparently Gloam had felt the need to stretch his legs too, because he came trudging over in his typical daytime slouched stance.

“I doubt the pizza we get here will compare to what they offer in the city,” he said with equally typical gloom.

I gave him an encouraging smile even though I knew the effort was likely in vain. “I subscribe to the idea that all pizza is good pizza.”

He made a humming sound and drifted toward the alley between the pizza place and the gas station shop. A moment later, a clang of metal colliding carried through the restaurant’s windows. Antic popped into view in the alley with a distinctly guilty expression.

“The chefs looked so bored, I thought I could cheer them up a little,” she said. “I guess I didn’t set the prank up well enough. It all just slipped…”

I raised my eyebrows at her. “As long as you didn’t ruin our pizza.”

“Oh, no, it was all empty pans! I was going to roll them across the floor.” She made a sweeping motion with her scrawny arm to demonstrate.

Okay, so maybe I couldn’t blame Omen for being skeptical about how much these two would add to our master plan. I motioned to the RV. “Why don’t you go get the table set up with drinks and napkins and stuff? I’m sure you can find something fun to do with them.”

A glint danced in her eyes. “Oh, yes, I can do that! You’re going to love this.” She darted off, blinking invisible again after her first few steps.

Our pizzas were ready at fifteen minutes on the dot. As I carted them to the RV, the spicy scent of the pepperoni set my mouth watering. The hellhound shifter had better not mind if I grabbed a slice or two of his pie.

Antic had formed a leaning tower of pop cans on the table. I laughed, and she did a jig of delight on the sofa-bench. Snap came hustling over for the food but first gave me a peck on the side of my neck as if